According to the World Health Organization presently nearly 3.4 million people die each year as a result of water related diseases, the leading cause in number of deaths worldwide. This number of deaths is greater than the death toll from wars, terrorism, or weapons of mass destruction combined. Waterborne deaths affect developing nations in the greatest measure, with nearly 4000 child deaths occurring each day from water related illnesses. The lack of access to fresh water combined with a lack of proper treatment facilities creates a fertile environment for waterborne diseases throughout the world. Because many portable water treatment products available to backpackers, campers, and travelers either chemically treat or filter untreated water, these products are limited in their ability to effectively address the problem.
Effective primary water treatment is not available to a large percentage of the undeveloped world. In cases when natural disasters occur, primary water treatment may not be available. When disasters occur, a fully functional but transportable treatment device is essential for sustaining life. Current water purification methods are either large and bulky, or inadequate as not to provide primary water treatment. Some methods for water treatment include: water purification tablets, ultraviolet lamps, or various large volume treatment devices requiring excessive power sources.
Water treatment tablets are popular to use, but, do not provide adequate accompaniments to be utilized properly. When using water purification tablets, directions provided from manufacturers instruct a user to obtain a collection vessel, an agitation device such as a utensil, stir for 10 minutes, obtain both a cloth and additional vessel to pour the liquid thru, to separate sediment floc, and drink the remains. When traveling, or, in the case of a disaster, an individual will not have access to the excessive number of accompaniments required by the manufacturer of water purification tablets. Thus, water purification tablets are ineffective and useless in travel or emergency situations.
Numerous chemical treatment methods contain iodine pills or chlorine tablets which leave a sour taste. Chemical treatment (iodine pills or chlorine tablets) protects against viruses but does not filter out turbidity particulates in a water source. Using filters will filter out turbidity, but will not protect against dangerous bacteria. Conventional water treatment systems that effectively treat water against viruses and bacteria by properly mixing or agitating the chemicals and filtering out turbidity are bulky and costly systems which are difficult to transport. For example, some conventional systems refer to a portable water treatment device as being a system that is able to fit on the back of a compact truck. Obviously, such a bulky water treatment device would not be useful to a backpacker or traveler in need of water treatment. Still another conventional water purification device requires bulky, multiple bag filters and though transportable, can't be packed within luggage for lightweight portability.
Other conventional water treatment systems are ineffective at removing harmful bacteria and turbidity. For example, some conventional systems treat water with costly ultraviolet lamps, which although considered portable, do not effectively kill all viruses or bacteria in high turbidity water sources. Further, an ultraviolet lamp does not work as effectively as chemical treatment. The more dirt and turbidity in a water source, the more difficult it is for an ultraviolet lamp to be effective. Thus, an ultraviolet lamp is only effective in relatively pure water conditions where a relatively low level of water treatment is needed, or, polishing of re-treated water is required. Since this is not a normal condition in most cases, ultraviolet lamps are relatively ineffective.
Common water treatment devices are bulky and not very mobile. Many households invest in filters, but most are unaware of best use practices when treating untreated drinking water. Campers and travelers have access to basic treatment for viruses, but are unable to remove dirt and turbidity with current systems on the market.
The conventional water purification systems do not provide a lightweight water treatment device that provides treatment, agitation, and filtration in a unitary convenient system that is truly compact and useful in various situations.